Under COPPA, how do I know if my channel is “directed to children”? Since the FTC and New York Attorney General announced their September 2019 settlement with YouTube for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule, we’ve heard that question from channel owners – sometimes called content creators. If you’re a channel owner who shares content on user-generated platforms like YouTube, read on for FTC staff guidance about the applicability of the COPPA Rule and how those covered by the Rule can comply with its requirements.

The FTC action against YouTube and Google

The lawsuit against YouTube and Google alleged that the companies illegally collected personal information from children, in violation of COPPA. According to the complaint, the companies collected that information from viewers of child-directed YouTube channels in the form of persistent identifiers that track users across the Internet, but didn’t notify parents and get their consent. To settle the case, YouTube and Google agreed to create a mechanism so that channel owners can designate when the videos they upload to YouTube are – to use the words of COPPA – “directed to children.” The purpose of this requirement is to make sure that both YouTube and channel owners are complying with the law.

A COPPA recap

That provision of the settlement has raised questions among content creators about how to determine if what they upload to YouTube or other platforms is “directed to children.” The answer requires a brief summary of some key COPPA provisions. Passed by Congress in 1998, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act is a federal law that protects the privacy of children under 13. COPPA’s foundational principle is one that most people can agree on: Parents – not kids, companies, platforms, or content creators – should be in control when it comes to information collected from children online.

The COPPA Rule defines “personal information” to include obvious things like a child’s first and last name or home address, but that’s not all. Under COPPA, personal information also covers what are called persistent identifiers – behind-the-scenes code that recognizes a user over time and across different sites or online services. That could be an IP address or a cookie when it’s used to serve targeted ads. Keep in mind that an operator also might be collecting personal information through an open comment field on its site or service that allows a user under 13 to make personal information publicly available. For example, think of a comment like this on a child-directed site: My name is Mary Jones from Springfield. I love this video!

How COPPA applies to channel owners

So how does COPPA apply to channel owners who upload their content to YouTube or another third-party platform? COPPA applies in the same way it would if the channel owner had its own website or app. If a channel owner uploads content to a platform like YouTube, the channel might meet the definition of a “website or online service” covered by COPPA, depending on the nature of the content and the information collected. If the content is directed to children and if the channel owner, or someone on its behalf (for example, an ad network), collects personal information from viewers of that content (for example, through a persistent identifier that tracks a user to serve interest-based ads), the channel is covered by COPPA. Once COPPA applies, the operator must provide notice, obtain verifiable parental consent, and meet COPPA’s other requirements. For information on how to comply with COPPA, please visit the FTC’s COPPA page for our Six-Step Compliance Plan for Your Business.

How channel owners can determine if their content is directed to children

Under COPPA, there is no one-size-fits-all answer about what makes a site directed to children, but we can offer some guidance. To be clear, your content isn’t considered “directed to children” just because some children may see it. However, if your intended audience is kids under 13, you’re covered by COPPA and have to honor the Rule’s requirements.

The Rule sets out additional factors the FTC will consider in determining whether your content is child-directed:

the subject matter,

visual content,

the use of animated characters or child-oriented activities and incentives,

the kind of music or other audio content,

the age of models,

the presence of child celebrities or celebrities who appeal to children,

language or other characteristics of the site,

whether advertising that promotes or appears on the site is directed to children, and

competent and reliable empirical evidence about the age of the audience.

The determination of whether content is child-directed will be clearer in some contexts than in others, but we can share some general rules of thumb. First, unless you’re affirmatively targeting kids, there are many subject matter categories where you don’t have to worry about COPPA. For example, if your videos are about traditionally adult activities like employment, finances, politics, home ownership, home improvement, or travel, you’re probably not covered unless your content is geared toward kids. The same would be true for videos aimed at high school or college students. On the other hand, if your content includes traditional children’s pastimes or activities, it may be child-directed. For example, the FTC recently determined that an online dress-up game was child-directed.

Second, just because your video has bright colors or animated characters doesn’t mean you’re automatically covered by COPPA. While many animated shows are directed to kids, the FTC recognizes there can be animated programming that appeals to everyone.

Third, the complaint in the YouTube case offers some examples of channels the FTC considered to be directed to children. For example, many content creators explicitly stated in the “About” section of their YouTube channel that their intended audience was children under 13. Other channels made similar statements in communications with YouTube. In addition, many of the channels featured popular animated children’s programs or showed kids playing with toys or participating in other child-oriented activities. Some of the channel owners also enabled settings that made their content appear when users searched for the names of popular toys or animated characters. Want to see the FTC’s analysis in context? Read pages 10-14 of the YouTube complaint.

Finally, if you’ve applied the factors listed in the COPPA Rule and still wonder if your content is “directed to children,” it might help to consider how others view your content and content similar to yours. Has your channel been reviewed on sites that evaluate content for kids? Is your channel – or channels like yours – mentioned in blogs for parents of young children or in media articles about child-directed content? Have you surveyed your users or is there other empirical evidence about the age of your audience?

What are the possible penalties for violating COPPA?

The Rule allows for civil penalties of up to $42,530 per violation, but the FTC considers a number of factors in determining the appropriate amount, including a company’s financial condition and the impact a penalty could have on its ability to stay in business. While Google and YouTube paid $170 million, in another COPPA case settled this year, the operator paid a total civil penalty of $35,000.

Isn’t the FTC taking another look at the COPPA Rule?

Yes, the FTC is currently evaluating the Rule in light of rapid changes in technology. If you would like to comment on the effectiveness of the COPPA Rule and whether changes are needed, the FTC has extended the comment deadline to December 9, 2019.

Comments

Here's an idea, just have Youtube allow us to tick a box that says "Not for kids" or "PG-13" or "Rated T for Teen" or "Not intentionally aimed at kids". Simple. There are a gazillion websites that do this. A simple on/off switch that instead of saying "On/Off" are saying "for kids/not for kids".

while i am not a Youtube creator, but i actually understand and enjoyed so many contents on Youtube. FTC’s COPPA law just too vague, too harsh, and too wrong for everyone even for children and creator alike for so many reason!!!!! Let’s me tell you okay?
1. Even FTC and COPPA try to protect children’s privacy, this just too much discrimination on the grounds of a people's age. Also nowadays Children don’t want to be underestimated just because they are underage.
2. Most YouTube Creators wouldn't be Able to Continue what they do Best. because of civil penalties of up to $42,530 per violation video.
3. There's YouTube creators who expect to hear Comments on their Videos. also every creators know they never wanted to get children’s personal informations.
4. Videos are used as Source Material for Many Things.
5. YouTube Videos are Made for so many People giving their Thoughts on and more. and please understand that every youtubers are different.
6. YouTube is not just Place for Watching just about Anything, but also Place for Watching Livestreams, Entertainments, Animations, Stories, Musics, How to do stuff, Clips of Stuff, Segments and Sketches of Stuff, Reaction Videos, Social Media, and so many of Good stuffs Creators still can do. especially we all know what Social Media's all about, and FTC and COPPA Please understand.
7. There's Trillions of Videos and Channels out there that've been Glad to have Around and really Glad to be in Youtube. especially now Worldwide Companies have Their own Official channel. So if their channel are taken down just because they aren’t kid friendly, That would cause irreparable damage instead.
8. Friendly Stuff is The Most Common and Most Loved Thing to have in the World enjoyed by everyone.
9. YouTube Videos that talk about the History of Things and that Educate People are very Important. They gained so much wisdom and enlightenment from Youtube.
If FTC and COPPA law try to remove comments, family friendly contents, likes, dislikes, and mores, They would not just seriously damaging the community itself, but also jobs, people’s Hope and dream, and at worst humanity itself!!!!!. This is why countless Youtubers are traumatized and feared about this law. I Hope FTC can understand all this.

From comment to comment people have been blindly panicking. Although it might not reflect rational thoughts and just end up wasting time. I feel like the law is fair, but there could be more done, but targeted more at the corporations like Youtube to help Content Creators be less confused.

Although Youtube paid the fine they could still do some more, I think Youtube should split the audiences or kick kids out of their site.

If they split the audiences, Youtube could ask for either the date of birth or an email which would verify that the person is at least 13 years of age and Youtube Kids could be for children under 13. Where I feel, Youtube Kids should still have some sort of parent consent whether to have an email sent to their parents/guardians to use Youtube Kids

With kicking out kids entirely, although a huge chunk of viewers would drop it would be safer and easier. Where Youtube could still use the date of birth or email to make sure whether or not they could go on the website.

By having both children under the age 13 and people 13 years or older on the same site it would be confusing. It would be hard to decide between and in-between content made for adults and content msde for kids under the age of 13.

In conclusion, corporations need to do more for causing the rules to be broken and having every single audience on one site would not be a good idea. I think its more of a decission of splitting the audience into two groups or cutting off kids under 13 entirely. Having the corporations do more to split the audiences would go a long way in making the internet safer for children

Finally, YouTube is becoming more responsible for the content uploaded on their platform. People who are against this regulation have no idea what impact has the videos to a kid. The same should be done on Instagram and all social media.

I do hope y’all come up with something different. I am an artist and similar retired. I watch several different lady’s that just share their art. I learn from them. It is something so simple and uplifting. Why would you want to take this from people.

I believe that this is a terrible idea. A lot of content on YouTube fall into a gray area that will have to change drastically if this law is enacted and as both a creator and a fan of YouTube I think that this law should be changed as soon as possible thank you.

If i mark my channel as not kid friendly will anything happen to me? I have a motion designing channel that i feel is going to be deleted by YouTube themselves anyways, but i want to know if motion designing will count as kid friendly. So i used about 5 songs with swear words but it isn't all of my content. I don't even swear at all. Also, i play games like Roblox and Fortnite on there too. Will i be effected if i mark my channel as non-kid friendly?

Honestly, we understand that you want to protect children and all, but these rules are going too far. Having people being fined up to 42,000 dollars is insane. YouTube Kids is a thing, and kids can be safer on that. Instead of having insane fines and crazy strict rules, parents should have the option to determine whether their kid should have the much safer option of YouTube Kids. There should be something where parents can toggle an option to block anything that isn't child friendly, including censoring swearing, blurring nudity, etc. Although this is all my opinion, I say you should either make the penalties less strict, or having that toggling censorship button.

Really think you all should clear this up specially for the crafting Community ! How can a program get this right! We use glue, scissors, paper , sewing and so on ! Why is this not the parents job or why are the parents not held responsible ! This needs to be fixed before the first of the year!

Hey so umm I just to say...YOUTUBE NEWS RULES ARE NOT FAIR TO EVERYONE! I mean come on it's not fair to everyone, there is less than 10% of YouTube audient that is 13-17 and over 90% of YouTubers audients is the age o 18 but YouTube wants everyone to make content for kids from 12 and under!

I mean come on YouTube is for everyone NOT JUST FOR YOUNGER KIDS AND EVERYONE WHO HAS A CHANNEL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SOMEONE ELSE KIDS LIKE WHAT THE HECK, Also I heard that YouTube is going to get rid of every Gacha life Video, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT ALL ABOUT I MEAN ALOT OF PEOPLE PUT A LOT OF HARD WORK INTO MAKING THEIR VIDEOS ALONG WITH OTHER CONTENT CREATORS!

This is why there is an app FOR KIDS, plus a lot of YouTubers are quitting cause of this which means less content creator and fewer viewers, plus you need to pay about $42.000 dollar for marking the content creator videos wrong or they make their content too kid-friendly or violent or whatever, SOME content creators don't have that much money.

TO ME THIS ISN'T FAIR TO EVERYONE I MEAN WHAT IF I HAVE A KID AND THEY WANT TO START A YOUTUBE CHANNEL BUT THEY CAN'T!!! Look...I'm not trying to sound upset but I'm mad about this whole update on YouTube but this is going to affect a lot of channels and this isn't fair and once again they new YouTube rules are not fair.

So I have an idea, how about YouTube stay the same as it is without these new stupid rules...

Would it not be easier to allow youtube to create a child friendly platform. And make parents sign a disclaimer that they are responsible for what thier children watch. If there was a separate youtube section for kids like they have youtube music etc so crafters could continue to post thier excellent craft vids to youtube without fear of a fine or prosecution

I have a cooking channel so Im pretty sure I'm safe, bit haven't heard anyone address cooking tutorial channels. I do have 2 video's with my over 13 years old grandchildren making cakes. They are doing the cooking, under my supervision, and they are both older than 13. Should this be marked for children because they are in the video? I'm not even a big enough channel to do ads or any monetization, which I don't know how to do any of the money making things anyways!!! My main concern os complying with the COPPA laws. I do use bright vibrant colors for my thumbnails, as I was taught to do from Think Media and Video Influencers, using the Canva app and then just on my own. Am I gonna be given civil penalties just because I use bright eye-catching colors for my thumbnails? I'm very concerned as I've worked so hard to make and upload good tutorial cooking video's, but I'm a new channel and just getting started, Because I don't make money at it yet, and use bright colored text in my thumbnails my channel could be deleted? That would be sad as Ive purchased several items with my own money for my own use on my channel, and a laptop and camera purchases I've jist invested in to make better video's and with more trendy cookware such as an Air-Fryer, and Instant Pot "type" machine to upgrade the quality of my video's and have more varied content, and now I'm afraid I spent months saving money and investing in gear for my channel and now I'm at risk of being deleted??? Because I'm not big enough to generate MONEY for Google and You-Tube at this time, I'm an unworthy content creator? This seems to then make the larger channels or channels that have been doing it for many years the favorites or only cooking channels that will make the cut? Seems highly one-sided for ANYONE whos just starting out!!! You don't get a lot of followers when your just getting started and basically computer illiterate...maybe I should quit now and cut my losses...Thank you for the opportunity to leave a comment!!! I do believe that children need to be protected, however, I don't understand why jist because your a new or small channel you just get banned...

I'm still confused about a lot of details. The biggest one on my mind is how does this work for a content creator who can't or chose not to monetize their content on YouTube. In these cases I shouldn't be responsible for marketing my videos for kids because I am not marketing. There are zero ads on the videos in these cases and I'm not collecting data on my viewers. So in these cases it's YouTube collecting the data and yet you're saying you're going to fine me for something I'm not doing? Just because my content may look like it's kid ordinated whether or not I'm marketing and/or shooting for a young audience.

This system is fundamentally flawed seeing as: This means that if kids are on the platform, their recommended would be more mature content, because kids' videos cant be recommended and child-like audio is going to cause an uproar no matter how its handled. Please reconsider this, and best of luck to anybody trying to.

Foreign-based websites and online services must comply with COPPA if they are directed to children in the United States, or if they knowingly collect personal information from children in the U.S. The law’s definition of “operator” includes foreign-based websites and online services that are involved in commerce in the United States or its territories.

The complaint in the YouTube case offers some examples of channels the FTC considered to be directed to children. For example, many content creators explicitly stated in the “About” section of their YouTube channel that their intended audience was children under 13. Other channels made similar statements in communications with YouTube. In addition, many of the channels featured popular animated children’s programs or showed kids playing with toys or participating in other child-oriented activities. Some of the channel owners also enabled settings that made their content appear when users searched for the names of popular toys or animated characters. Read pages 10-14 of the YouTube complaint to see the FTC’s analysis in context.

Some you tubers it is their full time job so u CANT TAKE ADS DOWN!!! I will have no way of communicating with my subscribers so I cannot make videos they will like. YouTube used to be the second largest website (next to google), but now it will die because of COPPA. Please, it was fine the way it was before!!!! Don’t change it!!!

This law doesn’t really address the problem of children using YouTube inappropriately, proving their own personal information, or lying about their age. The video or content owners do not have control to collect analytics (YouTube does, Advertisers have access to the information). This law as proposed creates a hardship on the creators. Rethink the consequences.

This is great new to hear! In "ISN’T THE FTC TAKING ANOTHER LOOK AT THE COPPA RULE?
Yes, the FTC is currently evaluating the Rule in light of rapid changes in technology." It gives me hope that things on YouTube will be getting better!

I see a lot of animation on YouTube, but none of it is intended for kids. A lot of them are very violent and contain dark humor, much like shows like South Park or the Simpsons. A similar thing can be said about gaming channels. When these COPPA laws come into play in January, those YouTube creators are gonna be punished with a ridiculous fine for something that solely lies on the irresponsible parents that don't monitor what their children are doing. It should go on record that YouTube KIDS exists. That's where content intended for kids audiences should go. Not regular YouTube, which they have insisted time and time again was for people over the age of 13.

Please reconsider this law. If this is implemented as is, it will result in possibly millions of content creators going homeless, a well as kill their passion for producing content for the website. YouTube will begin to lose its best creators, and it's very possible that viewers will likely stop looking for content to watch on the site as well. Essentially, nobody will come out of this as winners. There will only be losers.

It's funny how google and all these big tech companies are silencing all these different people by banning them for being offensive or what other absurd reason they use to explain their silencing of others. Youtube does this and on top of that they demonitize creator's content because it's not "advertiser friendly" so they have to be all family friendly or risk losing monetization, so not only is what you're doing as bad as google if not worse because you are part of the federal government, you are also putting a limitation for creators to freely express themselves because if say they create some sort of animated video under your vague wording it can be argued that it was meant for kids and they get fined even if the video has adult content but its fined because its animated content that fits your vague guidelines.

To make things worse your treat youtube and creators as if they're working hand in hand, news flash, they don't. Content creators just make videos and publish it on youtube, they have no control over who watches it, or who youtube recommends it to, and most importantly they're not the one's collecting data on kids, youtube is because its their code. If you really do care about the kids, oh god the kids, youd go after google and youtube who manage youtube, but all you've done is give them a slap on the wrist with a tiny fine.

Please dont do this to me i make 10$ a week and trying to not go bankrupt. I work so hard and i make very little money off of youtube but just enough to buy my fam some food because the check dont hit after 2 weeks. Please dont do this. Not only will my account go bankrupt, but so will youtube

This is not aimed at protecting children. This is aimed at protecting big corporations against competition from small content creators. This is a massive free speech issue and the FTC is on the WRONG side again.

please try to be reasonable I understand that this is a huge issue and I support what you are attempting to do but this is not the way to do this YouTube changes people’s lives it gets them through the rough patches in life it lets them go to a place of pure creativity where anyone can make something and show it to the world.. but now they won’t have a way to make money even if this has been they’re job for the past few years, Gaming channels will lose everything, Animators who are just starting out will lose everything, people with dreams of making it big like they’re idols on this platform won’t even be given a chance please reconsider what your doing they’re had to be another way to fix this issue

Bro I can tell you at least 5 reasons why this rule sucks
#1 gaming youtubers can't post
#2 no one is going to use the yt kids app because it is not relevant anymore
#3 people have made a lot of money off of yt but now with this law every one is going to be broke and homeless
#4 yt will not get profit for people posting good videos
#5 its just plain out WRONG

This rule is very bad. It's affecting the animators and the family friendly content , if this goes on, It will destroy and ruin all the family friendly content on Youtube. Also the high amount of fine is very ridiculous, nobody has that much money to afford the fine. Instead of making this rule, You should make kids to watch "Youtube Kids" and also remove the inappropriate videos that are in Youtube Kids. Please FTC , I consider and request you to take down this rule you are making, You are making people lose their job on Youtube and loosing their money. People will be in depression and Youtube will fail if this happens. Please don't ruin one of the most important internet sites for me. I know that you are trying to protect kids but this whole rule doesn't protect kids at all. In fact, it would ruin all the contents including Youtube creators in Youtube and I suggest to kindly, take down the rule you made and make kids use "Youtube kids" instead of using the regular Youtube. I would be very happy if you let this rule down and let the creators be free to make videos and make kids use "Youtube kids" only.

The complaint in the YouTube case offers some examples of channels the FTC considered to be directed to children. For example, many content creators explicitly stated in the “About” section of their YouTube channel that their intended audience was children under 13. Other channels made similar statements in communications with YouTube. In addition, many of the channels featured popular animated children’s programs or showed kids playing with toys or participating in other child-oriented activities. Some of the channel owners also enabled settings that made their content appear when users searched for the names of popular toys or animated characters. Read pages 10-14 of the YouTube complaint to see the FTC’s analysis in context.

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